Mulligan and Riley: Communities help low-income students succeed

What would you call a school where more than half the students have such limited financial means that they qualify for a free- or reduced-price lunch?

Here's what we should be calling it: normal.

According to a recent report from the Southern Education Foundation, 51 percent of all public school children in the United States now qualify for federal lunch programs. In other words, financial hardship is now officially the rule, rather than the exception, in our classrooms.

For anyone who cares about public education, the implications are enormous. Poor kids graduate from high school at a much lower rate than their middle-class peers, and without a diploma, they have almost no chance of moving up the economic ladder.

This isn't about laziness or lack of discipline. Low-income households have limited access to transportation, child care, health care and many other resources that the rest of us take for granted. If mom gets sick or the car breaks down, poor kids are more likely to miss school, fall behind and earn bad grades. When the D's and F's start piling up, low expectations can quickly become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

As more and more students struggle to keep up, communities must step up and support their most vulnerable young people. Here in the Lehigh Valley, our community has done just that.

As leaders of Communities In Schools in the state of Pennsylvania and in the Lehigh Valley, we are proud of our part in helping 50,000 succeed in school in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, the Capital region and the Lehigh Valley.

In the Lehigh Valley, Communities In Schools' success starts with collaboration; we work with more than 200 community partners providing targeted services reaching more than 12,000 students. We work inside 20 local schools, so we're uniquely positioned to form relationships and identify students in need. From food and shelter to mentoring and medical care, we surround students with the love and support they need to stay in school.

Site coordinators for Communities In Schools are in the schools to help students through tough times. In some cases students are dealing with a family that is falling apart. Situations where a parent has died or has left the family can leave a big hole both emotionally and financially.

The site coordinators become a caring support for the student and their family. They steer them to a food bank, and then secure clothing donations for the family. In school, the site coordinator continues to work with students and place them in after-school programs that keep them focused. With the help of Communities In Schools, these students are able to maintain their academics and continue to improve socially and heal emotionally.

Because of Communities In Schools and its site coordinators, these students get back on track to beat the odds and break the cycle of poverty. That's a win for all of us, and it's not an isolated case: Of the 1.2 million kids served by Communities In Schools nationwide, 99 percent stay in school and 97 percent graduate.

Poverty is an intractable problem, but it's not an impossible one. When we tap the deep resources of our community to help keep kids in school, we can change their lives and change the future.

Just ask the many students who have succeeded!

Timothy Mulligan is president of Communities in Schools of the Lehigh Valley, and Ryan Riley is president of Communities in Schools of Pennsylvania.